Kate Obenshain

A regular guest on Fox News and a popular campus speaker, Kate Obenshain is an articulate, fearless defender of conservative principles. She inspires audiences with her passionate, experienced insights, never hesitating to speak her mind, even when it contradicts the political establishment—as it often does.

As chairman of the Virginia GOP from 2003 to 2006, Kate garnered national attention when she led the charge against tax increases and the expanding role of government at the state and national levels. During her tenure, she earned the designation from the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution as one of the rising stars in the GOP.

Along with Ann Coulter, Laura Schlessinger, Phyllis Schlafly and Jeane Kirkpatrick, Kate's work is featured in the book, Great American Conservative Women. Of this book, Rush Limbaugh, said, "It's past due that someone put together a collection of ideas and philosophies from conservative women in print." She has been featured in three of the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute’s annual calendars.

Encouraging young people to become philosophically knowledgeable and active in public policy issues is a driving passion for Kate. In 2003, she founded and is chairman of a public policy leadership training program for women in Virginia.

Currently, Kate champions her conservative convictions as vice president of Young America’s Foundation, the nation’s premier campus conservative organization and owner of Ronald Reagan’s beloved Rancho del Cielo, otherwise known as the Western White House.

Kate has been speaking on college campuses for 18 years, enlightening and entertaining students on topics such as "The New Face of Feminism: It’s wearing lipstick," “Our Descent into Liberalism” and “America’s Nobel Heritage: Hope from the Founding Fathers.” Kate speaks across the nation on a wide variety of issues including life, national security, education, economic policy, political correctness on campus, and the changing role of women in public policy.

Kate served as Senator George Allen's chief of staff and as his chief education and health policy advisor when he was Virginia's governor. At Young America's Foundation, Obenshain has served as a member of the Board of Directors, director of program development and director of lectures, developing the largest conservative lecture program in the nation.

From 1995 to 2000, she served as an appointee of Governors Allen and Gilmore on the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, implementing both governors’ vision for budgetary reform and programmatic accountability.

A Virginia native, Kate is a graduate of the University of Virginia where she was editor of the campus conservative newspaper, the Virginia Advocate. Kate is now a resident of Winchester, Virginia where she lives with her four children. She is a co-founder of James 1:27 Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing assistance to widows and orphans in times of crisis.